The slap inspired visual Internet memes and sparked much netizen commentary. Netizens dubbed the incident “the slap heard ’round the world”. One quipped, “The system couldn’t change things, the people couldn’t change things—the only thing that changed things was a slap on the face.”

Han Deqiang’s altercation.

The other “slap on the face” occurred amid the 2012 protests over Japan’s claim to the Diaoyu Islands. During the protests, a pro-Mao faction emerged, shouting slogans such as, “We miss you, Chairman Mao.” An elderly man stepped forward and said, “It doesn’t make sense to place our hopes for our country’s dignity and nationalism on Mao Zedong.” Thereupon, well-known Mao-sympathizer and Beijing Aeronautical University professor Han Deqiang approached the elderly man and slapped him twice. The photograph of Han slapping the elderly man circulated widely on the Internet, and a national debate ensued. While many netizens were enraged and the party mouthpiece People’s Daily went so far as to publish an editorial urging Han’s arrest, other members of China’s New Left movement spoke in his defense. Han remained unrepentant, stating that the man was talking nonsense and deserved to be hit.